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In his book Ultimate Guide to Twitter for
Business, online marketing expert Ted Prodromou offers
an easy-to-understand guide to using Twitter that will help
small-business owners generate leads and connect with
customers. This edited excerpt is the first of a two-part
series, the author explains the most common Twitter terms so
users can get up to speed right away. Look tomorrow for a
continuation in Part 2.

Like most technology, Twitter has its own language. Let’s look at
the most common Twitter terms.

@
The @ sign is used to call out usernames in Tweets. You can say
something like: “Hey @tedprodromou!” The @ works differently in
Twitter than it does in an email address. When a username is
preceded by the @ sign, it becomes a link to a Twitter profile.
When you click on that link, you'll be able to view the person’s
profile to learn more about them.

@Message
If you want to send a public message to somebody, you start your
Tweet with the @ followed by their Twitter name. For example, if
you want to send a message to me, you start your Tweet with
@tedprodromou followed by the message you want to send me in the
Tweet.

DM
All Twitter messages are public by default. That means everyone
can see all of your Tweets. If you want to send a message
directly to someone who’s following you on Twitter, you can send
them a direct message (DM). This is like sending your friend a
text on their phone, where only they receive it. Only you and
your friend know what's contained in that message.

Favorite
To Favorite a Tweet means to mark it as one of your favorites.
You Favorite a Tweet by clicking on the star next to the message.
Do it when you want to show your appreciation to someone for
creating a catchy or thought-provoking Tweet.

Follow
To follow someone on Twitter is to subscribe to their Tweets or
updates by clicking on the Follow button in their profile. The
more people you follow, the more Tweets you will see in your
Tweet stream, giving you more opportunity to engage others in
conversation.

Follower
A follower is another Twitter user who has followed you. The more
followers you have, the more popular you are on Twitter.

Handle
A user’s “Twitter handle” is the username they have selected and
the accompanying URL. Your Twitter handle is also referred to as
your Twitter name. My Twitter handle is officially
http://twitter.com/tedprodromou.

Hashtag
The # symbol is called a hash mark, and when used to mark
keywords or topics in a Tweet, it is called a hashtag. Its use
began organically as Twitter users sought a way to categorize
messages. Today, most Tweets contain a # and a keyword so people
can easily follow a Twitter conversation involving sometimes
thousands of people.

Interactions
Your Twitter Interactions is the timeline in your @ Connect tab
that displays all the ways other users have interacted with your
account, like adding you to a list, sending you a reply,
Favoriting one of your Tweets, or ReTweeting one of your Tweets.
Viewing your @ Connect tab is a quick way to see who’s engaging
with you.

Listed
When someone adds you to a Twitter list, you are considered
"listed." The number of times you're listed appears in the
statistics section of your profile.

Lists
Lists are curated groups of other Twitter users. Twitter Lists
are like distribution lists in email where you group people
together so you can easily communicate with everyone at once. You
can group people you are following by topics so you can quickly
see the latest trends or conversations. Twitter Lists are sort of
like Groups on Facebook or LinkedIn where you can join in
targeted conversations based on specific topics.

Mention
Mentioning another user in your Tweet by including the @ sign
followed directly by their username is called a “mention.”
Another way to Mention someone is to add their username in a
Tweet. If someone Tweeted, “Hey @tedprodromou I loved your blog
post about Twitter,” it would be considered a Mention.

Name
A name can be different from your username and is used to locate
you on Twitter. Your name must be 20 characters or less. For
example, my name on Twitter is Ted Prodromou, but my username is
tedprodromou.

Profile
The Twitter page that displays information about a Twitter user,
as well as all the Tweets they've posted from their account, is
the profile page. Your profile also includes your bio, which is a
160-character description of you.

Promoted Tweets
These are Tweets that are paid promotions or ads at the top of
search results on Twitter. Promoted Tweets are targeted by
keywords so they only appear at appropriate times.

Protected/Private Accounts
All Twitter accounts are public by default. You can choose to
protect your account so your Tweets will only be seen by approved
followers and will not appear in Twitter Search. This is a great
way for remote business teams to share information and keep in
touch with each other when working together on projects.